She complained that I was flying deliberately slow. So I went fast.
— Chapter 24

My knife clattered to the stones and snow. And I looked into the mirror.
— Chapter 68

Is there a limit on potentially soul-crushing books you can read in a row? Seeing that this is the third book in the series and somewhat of a break (although there are three more books to come) I was slightly optimistic that the end wouldn’t completely destroy me. However, before you get to that end there are 700 pages where you can convince yourself that everything is about to go to hell. Repeatedly. I loved the second book in this series so much and have re-read passages of it over and over, so the bar for this was incredibly high and I don’t blame the book that it doesn’t quite (in my opinion) live up to its precursor. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a great, amazing, breathtaking read, but that one final ingredient that would make it magical is somehow missing. And I couldn’t even tell you what would be needed to make it so. Maybe A Court of Mist and Fury just broke the mold.
Anyway, back to the everything is going to hell part: I’m in awe of the author who can set up a scenario where you care so much about the fate of a fictional world that you constantly worry about it when you can’t read about it (pesky real life again getting in the way of reading time). And the real art is giving glimpses of hope in this horror scenario that then turn out to be spinning everything even closer to total destruction.
It would always have been too early for me to let go of this cast of characters, but I hope that in the books to come they won’t be completely absent. I am wondering though about the significance of certain fighting characters because what happens when such ancient beings with arguably important roles suddenly cease to be able to participate in the running of the world? (Vague enough?)

We’re almost at the exact halfway point of the year, how is your reading pile shaping up? Do you tend to read more or less in the second half of the year? Share your observations and teasers in the comments.

We fear things because we value them. We fear losing people because we love them. We fear dying because we value being alive. Don’t wish you didn’t fear anything. All that would mean is that you didn’t feel anything.
— Chapter 7

I think you cannot root out love entirely. I think where there has been love, there will always be embers, as the remains of a bonfire outlast the flame.
— Chapter 20

Since this is a second book in a series I won’t say anything about the plot, because everything – and I mean everything – is a potential spoiler that’s how complex and intricately connected all of it is. Sort of blink and you miss a reference. But I will say this: If there was a possibility to safeguard my heart by keeping it outside my body while reading, I would do it. If Cassie Clare gets any better at what she does, she will obliterate me in one of her next books. And while we’re on the topic of obliteration: The word cliffhanger called and says it no longer wants to be associated with Shadowhunter books and will send its older brother suicidal free falling to take on the job. I know that things have to get worse before they get better in these books, but there is worse and there is traumatised-rocking-in-the-corner worse.
It’s been said before that you don’t need to have read all series to understand the others, but I’m completely in love with the glimpses and allusions to the other beloved characters and the glimpses into their lives. Yet at the same time that also means they are not safe. And that is one aspect that really has me worried. Yes, I want to know how they are faring, but at the same time I realise that also means in this world they will remain in danger. The same would be true if their book simply ended and I never heard of them again from a logical aspect yet this feels more immediate. Please, please, please let that one vision not be a literal one ...
And now it’s going to be an almost impossibly long wait for the final book, because Cassie is writing others before it. Perfect for coming up with ever more intricate doomsday scenarios fed by information added through the Queen of Suspense and Foreshadowing. So don’t mind me while I’m hurtling through empty space and try to come to terms with what happened. If there is one thing you need to be aware of with these books, it’s that you shouldn’t let your guard down (or let that treacherous hope off the leash) until the book is over. Seriously, this is at least the second time Cassie has done this to me on the last few pages.

What is the last book that has emotionally devastated you? Were you prepared for it or has it blindsided you? Share experiences and teasers in the comments!

“You have the power over that. People can say crap. They can think whatever they want, but you control how you feel about it”
— Chapter 17

Forever wasn’t real.
And I guessed, for me, that I was lucky it wasn’t. But for others, I wished it was real, that they had forever.
— Chapter 35

Didn’t we all have that one kid in our class, who could have been nicknamed mouse for all they ever said? Or maybe we were the ones on the silent side? Most quiet kids have their reasons for being like that. Sometimes it’s shyness and sometimes it’s for protection and sometimes it is something completely unfathomable. Whatever the reason it’s always worth it to listen when these people have something to say even if it’s not always easy to coax it out of them.
Jennifer L. Armentrout has a talent for writing very engaging romances and adventure types, but she’s also proven that she can construct compelling realistic stories as well. This book has quite a few elements from the problem-spectrum as I like to call it (like unhappy childhoods due to money struggles or abuse or alcohol problems ...), but it manages them quite well and in addition to that also creates a capturing scenario of character development and (because it wouldn’t be a Jennifer Armentrout book without it) a very sweet love story. Add to that her trademarked charm and witty dialogues and you have what I think is one of the author’s best books to date.

Are you a person to break the silence or more a silence is golden type? Share your thoughts and teasers in the comments!

“Believe what you want, man.”
“What I believe is that you shouldn’t waste your potential flipping burgers?”
— Page 30

“I mean, aren’t we supposed to care about stuff other than just dances and football? Could we maybe try to do one thing that actually matters in the real world?”
— Page 59

Books in general and YA in particular loves to play in extremes and what if scenarios. And which scenario could be more extreme and question-provoking as the possible end of the world combined with the total annihilation of humanity? If today you and everyone else received the message that in two months’ time an asteroid is likely going to hit the planet and possibly going to destroy it? And not in the sense that it will be really close and then pass by at a distance that seems vast to anyone who isn’t usually calculating in light years and suddenly has to think in something as puny as kilometres – a literal light blip.
What this book does splendidly is impress upon its reader this immediacy. You can’t avoid wondering if two months are enough to change, to rethink, to experience ... to live. Not if you like most people think that you have that much more time.
I haven’t read enough of it yet that I can weigh in on the discussion about this book’s overall quality, but I know that the author has a very distinct style of writing and some very interesting word choices. And yeah, the cover is pretty cool in making you look really closely for the title. What a pity that I found it spine out in the bookshop where the letters are infinitely bigger.

The obvious question would involve asking what you would do if the world was set to end in a blast in two months (as opposed to slowly fading away). And I think I’ll go for the obvious today. Share your thoughts and teasers in the comments.